The much-anticipated socioeconomic, educational, and political representation survey in Karnataka got off to a slow start on Monday, with enumerators facing numerous technical glitches and challenges.
The Social and Educational survey (caste census) will start across the state as planned on Monday, except in Bengaluru (Greater Bengaluru Authority limits), where the process has been postponed by a few days for administrative reasons.
By noon, only 400 houses and 1,100 people had been covered by 1.7 lakh enumerators across the state. Officials attributed the slow beginning to teething troubles, expecting the pace to pick up in the coming days. K A Dayanand, member-secretary of Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes (KSCBC), said that the first day’s slow start was expected as enumerators had to download and familiarize themselves with the mobile application.
However, complaints poured in from across the state about delays and glitches in the mobile application. Enumerators faced issues with receiving OTPs for Aadhaar authentication, which caused significant delays. With each enumerator tasked with covering 150 houses per block and asking 60 questions per household, even a 2-5 minute delay in verifying credentials became time-consuming. In several cases, final submissions were not accepted by the software, and poor network connectivity in rural areas compounded the problem.
Enumerators shared their experiences, highlighting the hurdles they faced on the first day. Some teachers, like Vijayalaxmi from Gadag district, struggled to download the app and faced technical difficulties, while others, like Kamala from Haveri district, managed to upload details from one house after facing issues with the first family. Despite the challenges, officials and teachers are hopeful that the survey will gain momentum in the coming days.
In some districts, such as Bengaluru Urban and Dakshina Kannada, fieldwork did not even start on Monday. Officials cited incomplete training as a reason for the delays in Bengaluru, while confusion reigned in Dakshina Kannada, where enumerators were also burdened with Election Commission work. Teachers who were pressed into the survey raised concerns about downloading the app and securing an uninterrupted mobile network.
However, Backward Classes Commission chairman Madhusudan R Naik clarified “In Bengaluru, there are not many teachers who are enumerators. We are also utilising people from other departments. Thus, even if the survey extends by 2-3 days, it won’t affect teaching.”
On September 8, the Backward Classes Commission held training for state master trainers. These trainers will train district-level trainers, who will in turn train the enumerators. According to GBA sources, training camps will be held Monday onwards for the trainers, who will further train the enumerators. “We are going to train 25,000 enumerators and are waiting for the date from the commission to start the survey in Bengaluru,” said Munish Moudgil, special commissioner, revenue, GBA.
